Divine Mercy Library

We Are Empowered

Not ones to mince words — about hell, Satan, and the society-fracturing effects of abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage, sexual promiscuity, economic injustice, and substance abuse — Dave and Joan Maroney have proffered a solution to save our country from itself.

Simply put: to follow in the footsteps of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska by utilizing the same prayers and sacrifices for the United States that she offered the Lord for Poland in the 1930s.

Enter the Divine Mercy for America campaign, a three-pronged plan to nurture personal holiness, utilize the promises Jesus makes through St. Faustina, and spread the message of Divine Mercy to others.

"People think they cannot change things, that they are not empowered to turn this country around. But they are empowered," says Joan, who, along with her husband, Dave, runs Mother of Mercy Messengers (MOMM), an apostolate of the Marian Fathers.

And wouldn't you know it: The blueprints for MOMM's Divine Mercy for America campaign have been embedded in the pages of St. Faustina's Diary all along.

In her Diary, St. Faustina chronicles her encounters with Jesus, who reveals God's greatest attribute to be mercy. On occasion, Jesus tells Faustina of his Father's anger toward sinners — and, indeed, toward nations. He names names. Relative to MOMM's campaign, this is where things get interesting.

Back in 2012, Dave and Joan had just returned home to Texas from a road trip giving Divine Mercy presentations to local parishes and schools. It being an election year, they felt worn down by a veritable fusillade of presidential politics, economic anxiety, and the volley of rancorous jeremiads in our country's cultural wars. The Maroneys were preparing for Pentecost, the liturgical memorial of the Church's watershed moment. While rereading the Diary, they experienced their own watershed moment in their efforts to spread Divine Mercy.

It dawned on them how often Christ mentions his Father's anger with Faustina's native Poland and how often Faustina responded by offering her prayers and sufferings for her country.

Saint Faustina wrote, "I often pray for Poland, but I see that God is very angry with it because of its ingratitude. ... I constantly remind God of the promises of His mercy. When I see His anger, I throw myself trustingly into the abyss of His mercy, and I plunge all Poland in it, and then He cannot use His justice" (1188).

Why was God so angry with Poland? The Maroneys delved deeper. Turns out that, in the 1930s, Poland had become the abortion capital of Eastern Europe. Interestingly, Faustina's revelations began in 1932, the year before Poland legalized abortion. "It was as if he was coming to offset the evil of abortion by offering his mercy, even to the greatest of sinners," says Joan. "Despite how angry God was with Poland and how it suffered during World War II, the Divine Mercy message and devotion nonetheless rose out of the ashes."

And so did Poland. In 1989, Poland became the first Warsaw Pact state to break free from the Soviet Union — in no small way due to the Polish Pope, St. John Paul II, who made the spread of Divine Mercy the central mission of his pontificate. The Maroneys believe it's no coincidence the Polish people passed a referendum banning abortion in 1993, the year of Faustina's beatification.

"If God had been so angry with Poland in the 1930s," says Joan, "imagine how angry he is with the United States today."

"We have driven God from our borders," says Dave. "We have to pray."

At the same time, the Maroneys note, the United States, like Poland, clearly holds a special place in the Lord's Heart. This is where St. Faustina's revelations took root and from which they spread throughout the world, beginning in the 1940s through the Marian Fathers. This is where the two miracles occurred through St. Faustina's intercession used for her beatification and canonization.

In other words, we are duty-bound to exert all the strength of our souls to defend our native land. When we unite our prayers with Jesus on the Cross, as St. Faustina did, he promises to "pour out a whole ocean of graces" (Diary, 699).